


In Your Arms

by Michelle



Category: The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-06
Updated: 2008-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29877351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michelle/pseuds/Michelle
Summary: The night is dark and endless. And there is only one other person in the whole wide world.





	In Your Arms

**Author's Note:**

> Title: In your Arms  
> Author: Michelle  
> Email: michelle [at] waking-vision.com  
> Summary: The night is dark and endless. And there is only one other person in the whole wide world.  
> Fandom: Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”  
> Beta: Nancy  
> Genre: Gen  
> Rating: K  
> Disclaimer: I have a twisted mind sometimes, but McCarthy outtwists me by far. Characters and situations portrayed in this vignette belong to Cormac McCarthy and Knopf and were taken with utmost respect (and awe, to be truthful).  
> Author’s Note: Inspired by the Middle Earth Express, prompt #144: safe. Written down mostly because I’m rendered speechless when looking at the power of McCarthy’s words. I’m only adding my own few inadequate thoughts to it in the hopes that McCarthy’s hopeless world will leave me alone afterwards.

He lies on his back, buried nose-deep in their blankets, shirts, coats and he’s still freezing. His eyes are closed, but sleep won’t come. He’s lying awake a lot lately and listens to his father getting up during the night to walk away from their little camp.

He’s afraid when his dad leaves him alone like this. He doesn’t want to be left here, because the darkness is thick and unpenetrable and when he can’t see his dad it’s as if he isn’t there at all. Just like the time when his dad shaved and the face looking at him was suddenly different and alien, not his dad at all. A face from a past he couldn’t remember and he was glad when they were on the road again and the beard grew back. But he felt like that now, like his dad was there but not. Swallowed and gone, leaving no black dot on their tattered map by which he could be found.

Still, he’s not calling out to his dad when he gets up and leaves. He knows that won’t help anyway. His dad will tell him to hush. Don’t worry, we’re safe here, he’ll say. I’ll be back soon. I’ll hear you if you call. Sleep. That’s what his dad would say, but dad would leave whether he pleaded with him or not.

So, he lies there in the dark, swallows his fear of being alone and listens to his father cough, somewhere to his right and not very far away at all. Those are loud, hacking coughs of the like he never hears from his dad during the day. His dad always tells him they will survive, they won’t starve to death and all will be well. But when he hears dad cough this way, he’s not so sure. He worries what he’ll do when the sound stops.

And then, as if to mock him, the coughing truly stops and everything is silent around him. He opens his eyes and the night is black and frightening all around him. He can see the faint outline of the cart and behind that, nothing. His heart starts to beat wildly, and there’s panic and fear. His dad could be dead, could be gone. The promise of never leaving him alone lies like a broken twig beneath his feet. Small, insignificant, dead. He tries to imagine a life without his dad, but fails. Can’t even imagine the next minute and the panic rises. The sound of footsteps reaches his ear and he holds his breath. Anticipation, fear, hope all grip him for a moment and then someone lies down beside him, snuggles up to him under the blanket and draws him close. He feels his dad’s arms encircle him and he’s not alone anymore.

For now, he’s safe.

_\- The End_

_(December 2008)_


End file.
